The Sheriff and the Seamstress
by Cerulean Pen
Summary: "The Prince and the Pauper" homage. When Sheriff Woody enters the town square, he meets the town's seamstress, Dolly. Throw in an enthusiastic cowgirl, a returning astronaut, fairy-like assistant, and violent criminal, and, well, things get complicated...
1. Chapter 1: The Sheriff

_The Sheriff and the Seamstress_

_Summary: "The Prince and the Pauper" homage. When Sheriff Woody enters the town square, he meets the town's seamstress, Dolly. Throw in an enthusiastic cowgirl, a returning astronaut, fairy-like assistant, and violent criminal, and, well, things get complicated…Woody/Dolly AU_

_English Friendship/Adventure Rated: T Chapters: Words: Woody & Dolly_

_Chapter 1:_

_The Sheriff_

_**I think I have finally come up with a totally original story! This story has begun and ended in so many revisions, I've lost count! But, here's the final draft of "The Sheriff and the Seamstress" where two unlikely people's lives collide! Read, review, and enjoy!**_

_"Sheriff, there's a problem down town," Jessie called, stepping out of her office, taking a moment to enjoy the cool air blown from the small fan sitting on a shelf in the hallway. She opened the heavy oak door to her partner's office, sticking her head in. "Sheriff, are you coming or what?"_

_Sheriff Woody looked up from the letter he was writing to his best friend, Buzz, who was on a space mission at the moment. "I'm coming, keep your hat on," he commented, joining her in the hallway, grabbing his own brown leather cowboy hat off of the hook._

_Being the Sheriff of the town meant that anything you wanted to do could be interrupted by a problem in town. He was preparing himself for Buzz's visit, finally coming home after about a year of study on the ISS. He knew Jessie was excited as well, just because she was very "good" friends with Buzz. But, that would all have to wait: but once, just once, he would like one day away from their little town._

_She adjusted her own red cowboy hat, brushing back a lock of her red hair, coming out of her braid. "All I know is that there's a hold-up near the Seamstress's Stations. If we hurry, we can catch the train there," Jessie finished as they walked out of the Sheriff's offices, her boots causing little clouds of orange dust to rise with each footstep. The dusty, drought-driven ground was only one of the aspects of their town, while the sky was a weak blue, the peaks of wooden buildings in the town the only prominent features._

_"Are you sure horseback wouldn't be faster?" Woody asked, looking around the side of the building for their trusty Clydesdale, Bullseye. Jessie shrugged, yodeling for the horse to come over them, deciding it would be faster._

_Bullseye came scrambling around the corner of the building, his too big hooves causing him to tumble a little as he stopped next to them. He eagerly nuzzled the cowgirl's hand, while she laughed, putting his brown saddle on his back. The two mounted the horse, who realized this was a serious situation, and prepared himself to run._

_"Ride like the wind, Bullseye!"_

_And they were off._

_0o0_

_Deep in town, near the Seamstress Station, someone was in-deed robbing the small bank. The sickly brown skinned criminal, wearing a black eye patch over his left eye, laughed heartily, holding most of the town's funds in his hands. No one else dared try to stop him, mostly because he had a gun with him. Ever since the mayor outlawed the use of guns, except for the Sheriffs, none of the 300 citizens in the town had one to defend themselves._

_Right now, the dastardly villain, more commonly referred to as "One-Eyed Bart" was taking the last bit of valuables from the vault in the bank. The workers had their hands up in the typical "don't-shoot" fashion, praying that the Sheriffs would come. _

_Just as Bart was about to leave, holding his riches, something tripped him: what looked like a thick, rope-like whip. He fell to the ground, attempting to untangle his blue booted foot from the whip. Another boot, one with spurs, landed on his chest, not as a kick, more of a restraint. Bart, the faintest bit dazed, looked up at the boot's owner: "Sheriff Woody?"_

_"You've got a date with justice, One-Eyed Bart!" he exclaimed, patting his gun-hostler, just to remind himself that the criminal wasn't the only one armed. Jessie rode by at a lightening-quick pace, grabbing the bags of riches, Bullseye neighing triumphantly. _

_"Is that so certain, Sheriff?" Bart asked, grabbing his black hat that had fallen off. He reached into the hat, like a magician, pulled out a small, metal object, and threw it to the ground. Immediately, a thick cloud of smoke poured out, blinding everyone in the bank, while he escaped, grabbing the bags of money as Jessie quickly dismounted a spooked Bullseye._

_As it began to clear up, Woody realized that Bart had escaped, and quickly left the bank, shielding his eyes from the bright sun, in contrast to the smoky, dark bank. Jessie came riding out next to him, her face smudged with remains of smoke from his escape. "Do ya see him?" she asked, sliding off of Bullseye, who sneezed._

_"There!" he shouted, pointing to the door of the main seamstresses building, where Bart was darting inside. He had never been inside of the building, and didn't know if there was anything worth stealing inside, but he quickly ran after the criminal._

_Bart looked through the loft that was the building: the Seamstress Station itself was extremely small, with the adjacent building being where they sold their clothes. The loft was like a sweatshop: only two girls sat at their benches, sewing like they were born to. Their delicate fingers worked through a pattern of lace as if playing the piano. "All right, this a hold-up: don't anyone move!"_

_The two girls knew better then to fight back, and reluctantly stood, their arms in the air. The first one had wide brown eyes, almost purple hair in two ponytails, and wore an orange dress with three different buttons: a large yellow one, a small greenish one, and a square turquoise one. The other girl was a little taller and skinnier then her, with long blond hair, ice blue eyes, and wore a blue and white dress, with matching crystal earrings._

_"What do you want?" asked the orange clad girl, sounding strangely calm, like she wasn't even worried that a villain was pointing a gun straight at her heart. "If you want money, fine, just don't shoot my friend: it must be pretty sad for you if you have to go around robbing people for money."_

_He cursed at her, shoving his gun in his pocket, knowing that she was going to be willing and sarcastic. "Fine: just tell me where the freakin' money is and I'll leave."_

_"I-in the floorboard," stuttered the blond girl, shivering uncontrollably, seeming to be terrified of the criminal. "It's in the floorboard underneath the lace bin: please don't shoot!" she screamed._

_Woody and Jessie jumped onto the loft floor, making everyone turn around. Jessie quickly took the two girls to the side, but the orange clad girl didn't seem to want to be away from the action._

_Now, it was Sheriff against criminal, the two facing off, each with their hand over their gun. All they did for a moment was exchange steely stares, waiting for the moment to attack._

_All of a sudden, Bart withdrew his gun faster then Woody could react, aiming it straight for the Sheriff, with an aim that couldn't be beat. He didn't have time to withdraw his own weapon, or even run, because the trigger was pulled, the sound exploded, but before he could feel the bullet, something orange flashed before his eyes, and it all went dark._

_**And cliff-hanger! Ha, ha! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, because it took me a good portion of this week for this chapter. (I'm a procrastinator, sorry.) But, if you guys review, the next chapter will be out sooner, 'cause I'll tie myself to my computer to finish it. =) Oh, I also got "Maybe I'm Dreaming" CD for an early Christmas present! **_


	2. Chapter 2: The Seamstress

Chapter 2:

The Seamstress

**Second chapter! By the way, would you guys please review, 'cause it's hard to write these chapters. =( But, I hope you guys do enjoy this story!**

"Dolly?"

The seamstress's assistant, Crystal, pulled herself up onto the loft, seeing that she was already at the bench, fiddling with one of the new patterns. "Gee Dolly, it's only seven, what are you doing here already?"

"Crystal, since I sleep downstairs, it seems obvious that I would come up here early," Dolly explained, shaking out her almost purple locks. She gave up, pulling them into twin ponytails, adding a red butterfly clip on the left side. "Anyway, we have a huge order to do on lace: there's going to be a wedding down at the chapel later."

She smiled, starting over to the table, looking down at the intricate patterns. "Oh my gosh, how are we supposed to do such a complicated bride dress today?"

"Magic fingers Crystal, magic fingers," Dolly replied, her face breaking into smile. It was one of their private jokes: she had what the blond called "magic fingers", because of how fast and neat she was with any lace or sequins.

But, the orange clad seamstress didn't think her job was all that exciting. All she did was sew, cooped up in this tiny little loft, with only Crystal to talk to and clothes to sew. She wanted one day, just one, to be free and see the town on the ground, instead of from the loft window.

All of a sudden, the door burst open, causing both to jump, until Dolly realized it was a criminal. _Aw crap, _she thought, putting down her lacework, while Crystal rose, shaking like a Chihuahua, her arms held over her head. She simply got to her feet, staring the criminal right in the eye, her arms above her head as well.

"If you gotta take the money, it's under the floorboards," Dolly announced, looking at his loaded weapon. "Just don't shoot my friend here: shoot me if you need to though."

Bart just rolled his eyes, until two people rushed in, while Dolly looked to the side at him. She recognized him as Sheriff Woody, and the girl as his partner, Jessie. Jessie tried to pull her and Crystal away from Bart, but she resisted a little.

Now, it was face to face, man to man, with Woody and Bart standing in front of each other, their weapons at the ready.

Dolly knew what was going to happen, and her brain immediately kicked into panic mode. Her feet moving without the help of her mind, she threw herself in front of the sheriff. Her body was suddenly hit with what felt like a needle going through her, and everything went dark.

"Dolly!"

Jessie grabbed Crystal's arm as she lunged forward, trying to grab the seamstress's falling form. She herself was gaping at her bravery: the ordinary girl had taken the bullet for a complete stranger. "Stay here," she instructed Crystal, who was crying, running over to the scene.

Bart, realizing what was going to happen, flung himself out of the loft window, swinging safely down to the street. Jessie grimaced at Dolly's condition: the bullet had gone through her chest, not her heart, but somewhere in her ribs. It hadn't gone all the way through her, so she assumed that it was lodged in her bones, while blood started to gush from the wound.

Woody came to, seeing that the orange flash was the seamstress who had gave Bart a sarcastic comeback earlier. She had been shot instead of him, an act so heroic and out of the blue, that he would probably never forget it. "Oh my God," were the only words that came out of his mouth, while Jessie checked Dolly's wounds, and Crystal continued to cry in the corner.

"We know, now see if there's a phone in here, we need some medical help," she instructed him, feeling a little bit scared over being in charge. Jessie, though forward, never took charge with situations-that was a Woody thing. "After you call for help, see if you can calm the girl in the corner: she seems hysterical."

"You got it Jess," he agreed, searching around in the room for a phone. There were so many stacks of cloth, half-finished dresses, boxes of button and thread and needles and ribbons, he had a hard time finding anything. Finally, Woody came across an old phone, which he dialed. "Hello? Yes, we need some medical help at the Seamstress Station right away, we have a gunshot wound. Yes. Okay. Thank you."

He went to the blond girl in the corner, who was still crying, just at a quieter volume. She scrubbed her ice blue eyes, her face red and swollen. "She was standing right there," Crystal stammered, her lower lip trembling, like she was about to cry again. "She was standing right there, talking to me, making me feel silly, complaining about a new pattern. Now, she's dead!"

Woody resolved that she must be her best friend, or at least her close assistant, because she went into another round of hysterics. "Hey, hey, it'll be okay," he started, patting her back, her spine thin and protruding. "She's not going to die: she has a gunshot wound, but she's going to die. We've got a hospital contacted, and she'll be okay. By the way, what is her and your names?"

She hiccupped, taking a long breath to calm herself, regaining a comprehendible tone. "My name is Crystal, assistant seamstress here. She is Dolly, she lives here under rule of our boss, Betty, and she didn't do a thing!"

"Relax Crystal, we know that she didn't do anything wrong: in fact, she did something very brave," he explained to her, feeling as if he were trying to convince a young child. "After we take Dolly to the hospital, she'll be just fine, and we can talk to your boss if there's a problem."

Crystal finally seemed to calm down, taking another deep breath, her eyes starting to look less puffy. "Thanks for that, I definitely needed a bit of reassurance," she admitted, getting to her feet. "Uh, thanks for working with me, even though I was being a baby."

"No problem," Woody assured her, even though he wasn't quite sure what else to say. _Dolly. _The name seemed to roll off of his tongue without him even trying, each syllable melting into each other. It was an odd name, like the kind they had in those classical books, kind of like a doll. He glanced back at Dolly, who was still bleeding, while Jessie continued to press her wetted bandana against her wound, trying to elevate the pressure.

All of a sudden, two people burst into the loft, one a man with a gurney, the other a man with a lot of equipment. They both seemed to be talking at the same time, while Jessie was on their heels, explaining the incident. The man with the gurney, who had rich brown hair and spoke in a Southern accent, loaded Dolly onto the gurney. "Ma'am, we're getting her to the hospital, I swear," he assured her, his accent very thick.

His assistant, who was twitching nervously every few second, hooked up an IV into her. "We're just going to do a little surgery, if you want to come down to the hospital with us," he suggested, his hands wringing every time he wasn't performing a medical task. "Oh, by the way, I'm Rex, and we call him Slink."

Slink nodded in their direction, catching sight of Crystal in the corner, who's jaw dropped. "Uh, beg your pardon, but even the little lady in the corner can come," he told her, his dark brown eyes locked on her still tear-filled ones.

She trotted behind Woody and Jessie, and they all left the Seamstress Station for the hospital, while a still injured Dolly felt her unconscious mind slowly comprehend everything that had happened.

**Yeah, this chapter was pretty short, but it was packed full of action. And yes, the two paramedics are Slink and Rex in human form, and yes, Crystal and Slink will fall for each other. Keep reviewing, because there might be a little Buzz in the next chapter!**


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